Indonesia court hears phone tapes in graft case
Wiretap recordings allegedly demonstrating a high-level conspiracy to muzzle Indonesia's anti-graft agency were played in court Tuesday amid mounting public anger over corruption.
The recordings have been presented as evidence of collusion between police, prosecutors and corruption suspects to silence anti-graft investigators, supposedly with the approval of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The case has become a major test for Yudhoyono's new coalition government, formed last month after he won a landslide election victory on the back of promises to stamp out widespread corruption.
A page on social networking website Facebook -- set up to demand the release of two arrested anti-graft investigators at the centre of the scandal -- has attracted almost 600,000 members in six days.
Hundreds of people took to the streets in Jakarta for a second day Tuesday to condemn the police and demand Yudhoyono step in to protect the two officials, both deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
In the secret KPK recordings played in the Constitutional Court, the brother of a businessman being investigated by the watchdog commission is heard discussing the probe with police and senior prosecutors.
They talk about various schemes to save the businessman and put the KPK investigators behind bars for accepting bribes, based on false testimony
One of the alleged conspirators refers to "RI-1", a nickname for Yudhoyono, as being a backer of moves to "close down" the KPK.
Yudhoyono has angrily denied any involvement in a plot against the commission and has ordered police to investigate the tapes.
But he has stopped short of defending the arrested KPK officials, Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto, saying he has faith in the police and must allow the "legal process" to run its course.
A lawyer for Chandra and Bibit said the wiretaps demonstrated the "systematic engineering" of the case against his clients, who are behind bars facing charges of extortion and abuse of power.
"This is what I call a scandal of law enforcement in Indonesia. Bibit and Chandra have to be freed tonight, otherwise it's cruel," he told reporters outside the court after the four hours of recordings had been played.
Indonesia consistently ranks among the most corrupt countries in the world and activists say the police are trying to sabotage the KPK, which has claimed a number of high-level scalps since it was set up five years ago.
Yudhoyono announced the establishment of a fact-finding team to look into the saga, but analysts and even some members of the new ruling coalition immediately dismissed the panel as a white-washing exercise.
"This could not have been a worse start to Yudhoyono's second and constitutionally final term in office," The Jakarta Post said in an editorial.
"The episode has damaged not only the image and reputation of the national police, but increasingly that of President Yudhoyono. Why he is aloof in spite of the public sentiment is baffling."
Hilman Rosyad Syihab, of the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party which is a key member of Yudhoyono's coalition, said the fact-finding team would fail.
"We doubt that the fact-finding team can produce results that meet public's expectations," the former lawmaker told AFP.
"Yudhoyono needs political will to resolve this case."
